Marie 'Pandora' Medina

Biography

Pandora was born Marie Faye Medina & is of Native American Indian & Latina decent. A dancer from the city of Santa Ana, California, Pandora specializes in a robotic dance style known as "Poppin" - a street dance that was created on the West Coast during the height of the Funk music era in the 70's. Pandora's first exposure to street dancing happened while attending Santa Ana's Saddleback High School during her '94/'95 freshmen year where music was frequently played during lunch breaks. Often at those times students would come out to break or pop in the schools central "Quad" area. However, it wasn't until her Los Angeles city night life during the late 90's that Pandora became surrounded with an array of street style dances & fell in love with Poppin'. Through that environment, she met & befriended some local Poppers & began to run with them under the name "The Funk Technicians". It was through this group of dancers that she was introduced to the traditional side of Poppin' & attended her first big street dance event, "Freestyle Session" in the year 2000. It was at this event that she saw & met many of California's most notorious old school street dancers for the first time. Many practicing nights & days later, Pandora was recruited into what was already a widely recognized Poppin' crew known as the "Animated Beat Mechanics" (ABM). From this point forward, Pandora realized dancing wasn't just something she did only for fun, but that it had become her "way of life". Pandora immediately began to practice even harder eventually building up her reputation by battling & competing against some of the best dancers on the globe. Pandora has since traveled throughout the US, Europe, Japan, & Canada, taken 1st place at dance competitions such as "Radiotron", "How Tha West Was Won", & the UK's festival for women in Hip-Hop: "BSupreme" in London, was presented with an award for "Outstanding Popping Skills" at the Los Angeles "Hip-Hop Dance Awards", was featured on "Soul Train", received a standing ovation on Fox 11's "So You Think You Can Dance", appeared on KJLA's "The Hip-Hop Show", & danced in music videos such as Egyptian Lover's "Keep It Hot". Today, Pandora showcases alongside some of the best dancers in the industry on stages such as The Carnival "Choreographers Ball" in Hollywood, speaks on dance discussion panels, judges dance competitions, shares her knowledge of Poppin' as a workshop instructor, & has moved on from ABM to co-create an all female street dance squad called "Venus Fly Trap", a female crew specializing in all areas of street dance such as Poppin', Lockin', Breakin', & Housin'. Growing even more in skill level & professionalism, Pandora is currently focused on pursuing careers in both dance & design as she continues to hold it down in battles, shows & jams across the world. - IMDb Mini Biography